Scientists at the University of Louisville have shown that a microbial metabolite, Urolithin A, derived from a compound found in berries and pomegranates, can reduce and protect against inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). Millions of people worldwide suffer from IBD in the form of either ulcerative colitis or Crohn's disease, and few effective long-term treatments are available.
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A team of researchers with members from the Netherlands and the U.S. has found differences in the numbers of gut microbes for patients with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) and irritable bowel syndrome (IBS). In their paper published in the journal Science Translational Medicine the group describes how they sequenced the genome of gut microbes in patients with bowel problems and what they found.
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Scientists from the VIB-UGent Center for Inflammation Research identified the mechanisms by which the bacterial pathogen Clostridium difficile kills intestinal epithelial cells (IECs), thus destroying the protective mucosal barrier of the intestinal tract. The researchers demonstrate the physiological relevance of this process during infection and have published their findings in Nature Commu...

Australian researchers have uncovered clues in the immune system that reveal how the balance of 'good' gut bacteria is maintained. This information could help in the prevention and treatment of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). The study, published in the journal Nature Communications, showed that the increased presence of a protein responsible for sensing infection -- called NLRP1 --...

Internists now know that patients who have a sibling with diverticulitis can have three times the risk for the disease, and a low-risk lifestyle decreases risk of incident diverticulitis by half. Nuts, seeds, and popcorn are now OK.
Annually in the U.S., diverticulitis is responsible for 2.5 million office visits, 333,000 ED visits, 216,000 hospital admissions, and health care costs of $3.5 bill...